Holes/Session 1.5
A fragment of the Garden of Remembering
skype
[03:57:41] Apheori: Did we sort out a proper backstory?
[03:57:54] Wen: er
[03:57:57] Wen: what do you mean?
[03:58:06] Wen: crap, I still need to read the logs before the actual game
[03:58:14] Apheori: So your guy basically survived the apocalypse.
[03:58:17] Wen: yeah
[03:58:22] Wen: and I'll be in the next building
[03:58:28] Apheori: WHY did he survive the apocalypse?
[03:58:35] Apheori: This could be important.
[03:58:38] Wen: hmm
[03:58:52] Wen: aren't you supposed to decide this?
[03:59:02] Apheori: Right, I dunno if I actually said anything about it yet.
[03:59:37] Wen: (also, that reminds me, question about D&D in general--do characters get to invent their own story elements? or should they not say anything story-ish that isn't indicated by the DM?)
[04:00:10] Wen: I don't think you did. You just had me pick between being a survivor and a stranded investigation team person
[04:00:16] Apheori: You ask what you see, what's around, etc.
[04:00:24] Wen: okay, so no inventing.
[04:00:43] Apheori: You control the character and interact with the environment and leave room for inventing, but yeah, it's the dm what does the actual inventing.
[04:00:49] Apheori: Unless it's a dream or something.
[04:00:55] Apheori: But we'll get to that later.
[04:01:05] Wen: okay
[04:01:17] Wen: so do I get told why I surived? >.>
[04:01:22] Wen: or is that a mystery to me
[04:01:37] Wen: and what I saw during the... event
[04:01:43] Apheori: You survived because someone hired you to guard him in an experiment.
[04:02:31] Wen: okay
[04:02:37] Apheori: Something about summoning creatures from different planes of existence, or possibly just make creatures that existed in different dimensions real?
[04:02:52] Apheori: You didn't really understand the details, but you were there to fend off anything that 'appeared'.
[04:02:59] Apheori: In case something appeared.
[04:03:07] Wen: ooh.
[04:03:07] Apheori: Which it totally wouldn't, because that would be illegal.
[04:03:12] Wen: XD
[04:03:58] Apheori: But nevermind that, the laboratory was shielded such that the inside was decidedly separate from the outside, or something along those lines. Two layers. Safe. We can just implode it all if it goes horribly wrong.
[04:04:05] Apheori: Which we won't, of course.
[04:04:09] Apheori: Because that would kill us.
[04:04:16] Apheori: Yeah.
[04:04:35] Wen: right.
[04:04:40] Apheori: So you... did that. Stood around while the guy ran a bunch of tests, got some interesting projections.
[04:05:17] Apheori: Nothing actually happened or 'came through', though the guy, a Dr. Alesvrie, was pretty excited by some of the results.
[04:05:46] Apheori: Then you both went to leave.
[04:06:06] Apheori: Alesvrie opened the gates through the shields.
[04:06:12] Apheori: You stepped outside.
[04:06:22] Apheori: And everyone was just gone.
[04:06:26] Wen: okay
[04:07:02] Wen: how did I get to the building I ended up in?
[04:07:05] Wen: and how much time passed?
[04:07:18] Wen: and if it's a long time, how did I get food etc.?
[04:08:11] Apheori: Alesvrie worried that maybe this had something to do with the experiment at first, that maybe he'd managed to invert reality and place you both in another set of dimensions when you left, but the further you went, the less likely this seemed, because it shouldn't have held. Such an inversion effect would destabilise outside of the range oh gods what the hell what the hell...
[04:08:38] Apheori: He had some sort of panic attack, and you got attacked by zombies.
[04:09:16] Apheori: Like, real zombies. Which made absolutely no sense because zombies as a thing had been wiped out some 2000 years ago.
[04:09:46] Apheori: Anyway, you killed the zombies with your awesome powers and stuff, Alesvrie ran away screaming, and you were left very confused.
[04:10:05] Apheori: But you were either in the current building or near it, and you managed to find enough to survive for the time being...
[04:10:23] Wen: okay
[04:10:25] Apheori: Saw some REALLY weird things...
[04:10:40] Apheori: A few days passed and you were basically looking for answers.
[04:10:48] Apheori: And then you run into these other folks.
[04:10:54] Wen: just one attack?
[04:10:55] Apheori: Maybe we can add you in in an encounter.
[04:11:03] Wen: or were there multiple
[04:11:14] Wen: like, after my employer abandoned me
[04:11:23] Wen: and do I know what I saw?
[04:12:10] Apheori: You got attacked by some crazies, too, found a room full of fanged hams, a piece of wall tried to chat you up ("Hey sexy, c'mere"), you almost fell through a chunk of floor that appeared to be there but apparently didn't actually exist...
[04:12:31] Wen: o_O
[04:12:33] Wen: okay.
[04:12:36] Apheori: You have this suspicion that you might be hallucinating at least some of it.
[04:13:00] Wen: anything else I should know?
[04:13:17] Apheori: You also saw your sister or cousin or something, staring at you, mouth moving as though trying to talk, but no sound came out.
[04:13:22] Apheori: Then she flickered and vanished.
[04:13:39] Apheori: None of the computers were working properly.
[04:14:11] Apheori: Some wouldn't turn on at all, and the ones that would... they'd respond for a bit and then flicker, and then they'd be exactly how they were a bit before.
[04:14:45] Apheori: You couldn't connect any calls out.
[04:15:08] Wen: okay
[04:15:15] Apheori: You could swear you saw a potted plant eating a dead body.
[04:15:19] Wen: is all this stuff information I can freely impart?
[04:15:21] Apheori: Yes.
[04:15:25] Wen: okay
[04:16:31] Wen: is that pretty much it?
[04:16:35] Apheori: Hmm...
[04:16:49] Apheori: You couldn't find anyone else alive who was sane or coherent, but there were some... odd other things. Creatures like out of the dungeon dimensions, people who would stare at nothing and not respond to stimulus.
[04:17:08] Wen: okay
[04:17:10] Apheori: Your powers seem a little bit weaker than usual too, but that could just be tiredness.
[04:17:15] Wen: so the crazies attacked me and ran off?
[04:17:32] Wen: and are the crazies like, normal people except crazy?
[04:17:36] Apheori: You would have killed at least some of them.
[04:17:36] Wen: or zombies / whatnot
[04:17:44] Apheori: And yeah, those seemed to be real, normal people.
[04:17:50] Wen: okay.
[04:17:53] Apheori: Just... crazy and attacky.
[04:18:18] Apheori: A good way to add you into the campaign may be in another such encounter.
[04:18:36] Wen: yeah well you figure that out :P
[04:18:36] Apheori: So they come across you trying to fend off a larger group of them.
[04:18:44] Wen: okay.
[04:18:50] Apheori: Well, that means your intro will be fighting.
[04:19:00] Apheori: Or you could just happen across them, in which case your intro will be talking.
[04:19:04] Apheori: Pick one.
[04:19:20] Wen: I assume the latter is easier?
[04:19:23] Apheori: Yes.
[04:19:25] Wen: I haven't actually seen how combat works
[04:19:29] Wen: okay, that.
[04:19:30] Apheori: It's annoying.
[04:19:33] Apheori: Okay.
[04:19:33] Wen: sorry.
[04:19:36] Apheori: Don't be.
[04:19:40] Apheori: It'll get less so.
[04:19:57] Wen: hopefully
IRC
<Apheori> You know what I said about skype? <Apheori> Screw skype. <Apheori> Also I messed that up. <Apheori> Oops. <Wen> uh. <Apheori> >.> <Apheori> Can we do this part here? <Wen> uh sure? <Apheori> Whispering is annoying there and it's all before you run into them. <Apheori> Okay. <Apheori> So. <Apheori> You're, like in a corridor or something. <Apheori> Walking along. <Apheori> Heading toward one of the control cores of the building, though you're not entirely sure where it is, or even what you'd do when you get there. <Apheori> When suddenly, LOKSHMI! <Wen> oh dear <Apheori> So this cat that you immediately recognise as probably the avatar of a very suspicious god has appeared in front of you. <Apheori> React. <Wen> blink, approach cautiously, "um, hello?" <Apheori> LOKSHMI: Hello, survivor. <Wen> so, uh, any idea what's going on? <Wen> where's everyone? <Apheori> Are you asking the god that? Because you know she's a god, and one whom you would intrinsically distrust... <Apheori> You may even think she's behind the entire thing. <Wen> well, I don't have anyone else to ask, so I'm still going to ask <Wen> I might distrust the information though. <Apheori> Okay, just checking. <Apheori> LOKSHMI: They are gone. <Wen> where did they go? <Apheori> LOKSHMI: There has been a cataclysm. And end of the world, you might call it. <Wen> Oh. <Wen> ... is there something you want me to know? <Apheori> LOKSHMI: The ways out are barred. Your gods are lost to you. The only escape is in. <Apheori> LOKSHMI: Come. <Apheori> And with that she turns tail and starts walking off, probably assuming you'll follow. <Aziraphale> er <Aziraphale> I spelled that wrong xD <Aziraphale> oh no I didn't * Aziraphale follows very cautiously <Aziraphale> ...which will probably result in me losing trace of the cat <Aziraphale> does it? <Apheori> She waits for you. <Aziraphale> okay <Apheori> Why she would bother you don't know. <Lokshmi> Unless you want to stop following or say anything else, she leads you to the others. <Aziraphale> I'll just follow <Lokshmi> Okay. <Apheori> Bah, I know my own nick. <Aziraphale> snrk <Apheori> Oh, and you came from the other building. <Apheori> Remember that. <Wen> okay <Wen> wait] <Apheori> You were probably the light they saw when they came in. <Wen> so I was led by Lokshmi here? <Apheori> Yes. <Wen> okay <Apheori> You came down the stairs because the connection between the buildings was above them. <Wen> so I was walking toward the control core of building B when I met Lokshmi who took me to building A. <Wen> okay.
